After arrest, Church of the End Times pastor carries on

Sunday

Oct 7, 2012 at 6:00 AMOct 7, 2012 at 7:31 AM

By Lisa Eckelbecker TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

David H. Stanley stood among a group of men last night, pop music from a sound system pulsing around him.

Then the music changed, and the leader of the Christian non-denominational Church of the End Times, who just days before had been charged after a standoff with police, began to sing. About 30 of his followers whooped and clapped.

“Let God reach you today,” Mr. Stanley said over the music, speaking into a microphone as he walked slowly in front of an altar adorned with three large crosses. “Come on, don’t be stubborn. Let him reach you.”

Over the hour that followed, Mr. Stanley spoke about hope and the trials that God places before humans. What he did not mention, at least not directly, were the charges made against him and his brother Dennis H. Stanley after Uxbridge police went to Dennis Stanley’s home Monday night to serve a restraining order that had been requested by Dennis Stanley’s wife, Beth Stanley.

Police allege Dennis Stanley refused to take the court document, starting an hour-long incident in which the brothers allegedly locked themselves in the house and David Stanley was later joined outside by some of the church’s followers. Dennis Stanley was arrested and charged with violating an abuse prevention order and resisting arrest. David Stanley was charged with violating an abuse prevention order, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace.

Officers escorted Mrs. Stanley to the home Tuesday to take custody of the house and issued trespassing citations to several young women who were there.

Last night, however, David Stanley’s followers embraced him. When he obliquely described how others might see him, saying, “This guy’s got his shirt unbuttoned, don’t trust him,” worshippers called back, “I trust you.”

The Church of the End Times meets in a nondescript two-story commercial building in an industrial park off River Road in Uxbridge. A door beneath a sign for Driveways Corp., the Stanley brothers’ paving business, opens to a large L-shaped worship space painted a warm beige color with white wainscoting. Chandeliers hang from the high ceiling, and rows of upholstered benches face the altar.

Recordings of David Stanley’s preaching can be heard on the church’s website, and its YouTube channel holds videos of David Stanley preaching and performing a purported exorcism.

Worshippers arrived for last night’s service dressed casually. They mingled before the service, greeting each other with hugs. Some of the children turned cartwheels. When told that the Telegram & Gazette wished to observe a service, they responded pleasantly and offered handshakes.

A man who identified himself as George wore a red T-shirt with the word “Redemption” printed on the back. A former Catholic, he described David Stanley as a good pastor whose message turned around his life and the lives of his daughters, whose troubles included drug use.

David Stanley read from the Bible’s New Testament book Ephesians during the service and told the worshippers that the way to God’s salvation is through Jesus Christ, that tribulations lead to hope, but that hope must look to God, not worldly things. He said he had held material hopes in the past.

“I had hope in money, I had hope in my trucks … I had hope in 900 different things,” he said. Those and other hopes, he said, were “sinking sand.”

“You’re never going to be secure until you’re standing on that rock, Jesus Christ,” he said.

After his sermon ended, the congregation stood and listened to more music, swaying. They embraced each other when it concluded. David Stanley said he was praying for God to touch the spirit of all there.